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X-Ray Triple Jet
| Title |
X-Ray Triple Jet |
| Explanation |
Recorded on July 7, 1998 [ http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/sxt_co/980711.html ], this animation using X-ray [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html ] images [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/images.html ] of the Sun shows an amazing event - three nearly simultaneous jets connected with solar active regions. The two frames were taken several hours apart by the Soft X-ray Telescope on board the orbiting Yohkoh observatory [ http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/english/index.html ]. They have a "negative" color scheme, the darker colors representing more intense X-rays from the corona [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990716.html ] and active regions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980616.html ] on the solar surface. The pictures clearly show two curving jets of X-ray hot plasma appearing above the solar equator and one below. A sharp vertical stripe near the jet above center is a digital blemish while the overall shift of the image is due to solar rotation. As the Sun [ http://www.lmsal.com/SXT/html2/list.html ] is now approaching the active part of its 11 year cycle [ http://www.sunspotcycle.com/ ], numerous single jets have been seen. But the appearance of these three widely separated jets at once is considered an unlikely coincidence and has fueled current speculations about their origins. |
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